SEMI, the trade body for the semiconductor production equipment industry, says the August book-to-bill ratio for US-based manufacturers was 1:1.03 meaning that $103 worth of orders was received for every $100 of product billed for the month.
“Equipment bookings have increased for five months in a row as market conditions recover from the very low levels reported earlier this year,” says Stan Myers, CEO of SEMI, “with semiconductor device sales and fab capacity utilisation improving over recent months, we expect equipment spending to follow a similar trend during the recovery.”
See: Fab spending to grow 64% in 2010 - SEMI
The August figure shows a less positive trend for the industry than the 1:1.06 ratio of July, which was the first time the book-to-bill turned positive all year.
Up to July the b-to-b, although in negative territory throughout, had shown a gradually improving trend from the 1:0.56 of March, to the 1:0.65 of April; to the 1:0.73 of May and to the 1:0.80 of June.
US makers of semiconductor manufacturing equipment posted $599m in orders in August 2009 on a three-month average basis. The bookings figure is about 5% greater than the final July 2009 level of $571.8m and about 31% less than the $866.8m orders posted in August 2008.
The three-month average of worldwide billings calculated in August 2009 was $579.9m.
The billings figure is almost 8% greater than the final July 2009 level of $538m and just over 45% less than the August 2008 billings level of $1.06bn.
Monthly billings sunk from $438m in March to $386m in April and have then grown consistently to $392m in May, $440m in June, $538m in July and $579m in August.
Monthly bookings have risen consistently since the $246m of March to the $249m of April, to the $288m of May, to the $352m of June, to the $572m of July and the $599m of August.